McKinsey & Company have pried Coca-Cola’s Vice President of Digital Sales away from the soft drinks giant to become a Partner at the firm’s London office. Mark Elkins joins the consultancy following 11 years with Coke.

Mark Elkins has joined McKinsey as a Partner. Taking up a position in the consulting firm’s London office, he will apply his extensive marketing experience for his new role, which is focused on growing the business through marketing and sales.

Elkins spent 11 years at Coca-Cola, including a four year spell as Vice President of Digital Sales, two years as a Commercial Director, three years as a Strategy and Insights Director, and an initial year as a Strategic Projects Director. Preceding this, he spent eight years at Marakon Associates, where he worked as a Senior Manager (2005), Manager (2004), Consultant (2000), Associate Consultant (1998), having begun his career at engineering consulting industry players Arup, where he spent over a year as a Façade Design Engineer. Elkins holds an MBA in Marketing, Innovation and Strategy, which he obtained from INSEAD, following a MEng in Mechanical Engineering at Imperial College London.

News of Elkins' move comes in the wake of other changes to Coke's marketing team across the globe, including the high profile departures of global Chief Marketing Officer Marcos de Quinto in March and Ivan Pollard, Senior Vice President of Coca-Cola North America, two months later. Other senior management changes at Coke have included the stepping down of Chief Executive Muhtar Kent in December last year.

As part of the brand’s new marketing direction, this summer, Coke launched a pair of crowdsourcing challenges in an attempt to find new natural calorie-free sweeteners that could be used in its drinks. The company is offering a $1 million (£774,000) prize for whomever comes up with the "next stevia".

McKinsey, meanwhile, are pursuing the expansion of their design and digital offering, having recently obtained Swedish agency Veryday to that end. Elkins’ background in marketing will further contribute to the firm’s marketing capabilities.

The hire comes at an important time for McKinsey & Company, as the management consulting firm is ramping up its digital footpint in the light of the rapidly growing digital transformation market.

McKinsey have also seen a number of senior advisors depart in recent months. As of September 1st, Frank Mattern, Global Head of Recruiting and member of the firm’s highest body, retired from the firm to pursue his own consultancy work at corporates and support various start-ups with accelerating their growth. Senior US Partner Tim Welsh opted to leave the firm to join US Bancorp, while Consultant Jonathan Bailey moved on to Neuberger Berman.